The present invention relates to a doll, and more particularly to a doll which is apparently capable of learning in response to human voice and touch interaction.
Among the wide variety of interactive dolls (that is, dolls which are capable of responding to particular types of human interaction) are dolls which open and shut their eyes, produce sounds (whether speech or other sounds, and whether accompanied by mouth movement or not), urinate, defecate, cry, and the like. Typically, the interaction is extremely limited in nature--for example, the doll opens and shuts its eyes in response to movement of the doll and/or urinates or defecates in response to the introduction of fluid or solids, respectively. The dolls which talk are capable of a prolonged interaction--for example, telling one or more lengthy stories, singing a variety of songs, or the like--yet a child playing with such a doll is only passively engaged through the act of listening for the most part, perhaps with occasional input from the child in the form of a selection of the particular story or song to be heard. Due to the limited attention span of a child, and since the doll does not require the full, active attention of the child, the child may lose interest in the doll and have his attention diverted elsewhere even while the doll is continuing to speak or sing.
It has been said that the best way to learn is to teach. While it cannot be gainsaid that there is educational value in having a child listen to a story spoken by a doll, the educational value is quite limited since the child is essentially passive in the process. If a child had a more active role to perform in his interaction with the doll, and particularly if the child were attempting to educate the doll, the child's attention would be less likely to be diverted and the child would be more likely to learn that which he is teaching. The ability of a child to teach a doll is especially attractive to the child since most of the time he is being taught by adults and has little opportunity to teach someone himself. While the fertile imagination of a child may create situations in which he tells the doll to do things and the doll responds appropriately (typically because the child has pressed appropriate buttons or the like), such activity does not truly simulate the learning process, which typically involves making errors initially and then, upon correction, learning to perform without error the matter which has been taught.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a doll which is apparently capable of learning in response to human interaction.
Another object is to provide such a doll which is capable of learning in response to being kissed and spoken to by a child.
A further object is to provide such a doll which requires constant interaction from a child and thus maintains the interest of the child over a prolonged period of time.
It is also an object to provide such a doll which initially makes errors in speech but, in response to interaction with the child, apparently learns to correct these errors.